WCU drop Game 1 of Super Regional to Kutztown

KUTZTOWN – Following Friday’s 5-1 setback at Kutztown, the West Chester softball squad is still two wins away from its first-ever berth in the NCAA Division II national finals. But for the first time in the 2013 postseason, the Golden Rams are now facing a must-win situation today heading game two of the best-of-three Atlantic Super Regional series.

It was a thoroughly stressful outing by ace pitcher Devon Utterback, but somehow WCU stayed even with the defending PSAC champs until Kutztown ended a scoreless tie with a five-run rally in the sixth inning. It looked like the Rams (37-20 overall) were staging a comeback bid in the seventh, but it ended abruptly just seconds after West Chester scored its lone run of the contest.

“I’m proud of how the girls didn’t give up, even there in the seventh,” said WCU head coach Diane Lokey.

“We have to win two, so whether it’s one (Friday) and one (today), or two (today), it doesn’t matter,” Utterback added. “We are ready and we are going to come back fighting.

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“We know what we are getting into. We’ve played Kutztown a bunch of times. So we are just going to take two (today).”

That is going to be a tall order, especially considering that the Golden Bears have now beaten West Chester in five of six meetings this season and five in a row. But WCU stunned eighth-ranked California (Pa.) twice in NCAA Regional action last week on the Vulcans’ home field just a week after suffering a 10-1, mercy-rule loss.

“Coach always says to compete against the game and not the opponent, so that’s what we are hoping to do,” said Utterback, who went the distance but needed 131 pitches to do it.

“We know Kutztown and they know us,” added West Chester shortstop J.P. Norris. “This game was close for most of the way and we know we can score runs. We’ve been really confident the whole way and I don’t think we are going to approach (today’s) game any differently. It’s just a matter of getting some timely hits.”

As the higher seed, The Rams (No. 4) were designated the home team even though the clash was played on No. 5 Kutztown’s home field. West Chester was unable to host the Super Regional primarily because graduation ceremonies are slated to be held today at Farrell Stadium, which is adjacent to WCU’s softball field.

Kutztown threatened to score in each of the first five innings, but Utterback bore down each time and stranded a total of 11 base runners in that stretch. With the bases loaded in both the third and fifth innings, for example, Utterback got the final outs herself by coaxing one batter into hitting an easy comebacker to the mound, and another into a critical strikeout.

But there were some troubling signs. Utterback got away with hitting batters in fourth and fifth innings, but it caught up with her in the sixth. Two hit batters and an infield single set the stage for a two-run single by KU’s Colleen Smith to break the scoreless tie. Two batters later, Nicole Henninger blasted a three-run homer off Utterback to make it 5-0.

“We gave them that one opening and Kutztown is a great championship team, and they took advantage of it,” Lokey said.

“I wasn’t as sharp as I usually am,” stated Utterback, who fanned four and walked four, but wound up throwing 58 more pitchers than her counterpart, Kutztown’s Dominique Ficara.

“Kutztown’s hitters know me pretty well so they kind of took the approach of crowding the plate. That didn’t work so well for me. We will just have to change it up more (today).”

Offensively, the Rams put runners in scoring position in five of seven innings but had trouble coming up with big RBI hits. West Chester actually had more hits in the contest than the Bears (9 to 8).

And what appeared to be a promising rally in the bottom of the seventh inning wound up culminated a frustrating day. With two runners on and two out, Norris delivered a run-scoring single, but base runner Megan Kelly strayed a little too far off second base and was gunned down for the final out just seconds after Ali Vavala crossed home plate.

“That was unfortunate,” Lokey said.

“Offensively, we hit the ball hard, but we just kept hitting it right at their fielders. It was our best performance against Ficara – nine hits – so that was a positive.”

Norris, Jillian Murray and Laura Altenburger each had two hits for the Rams.

“I think it will give us a lot of confidence going into (today) knowing that we’ve been hitting it hard, and eventually they are going to fall,” Norris said.

Game two of the series is scheduled to get underway at 1 p.m. today at Kutztown’s North Campus Field, with game three to follow, if necessary.

NOTES: With four strikeouts Friday, Utterback moved into first place on WCU’s all-time strikeout list with 369. She inched past Shannon Padula, who fanned 366 from 2006-09 … With each outing, the Rams establish a new record for games played in a single season. Friday’s was number 57. The previous mark was 54, set in 2008 … WCU last qualified for the national finals in 1977. West Chester participated in the AIAW College World Series that year, but lost back-to-back games to Michigan State and Oregon State …. The Rams are now 19-86 all-time against Kutztown, and 9-33 during Lokey’s 10 seasons.